


A Little Lesson

by bornforwar_archivist



Category: Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-31
Updated: 2006-12-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 07:36:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11054325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bornforwar_archivist/pseuds/bornforwar_archivist
Summary: By KechuwaAres knows a chant that can send him to the past! The adventure is...exciting.





	A Little Lesson

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Delenn, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Born For War](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Born_For_War), which closed in 2015. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in March 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Born For War collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bornforwar).
> 
> Violence: yes
> 
> Subtext:nope
> 
> No gay stuff, all characters in this story don't belong to me, i am just borrowing them so please don't sue me! This is just a short story and doesn't really have any long-term effects on anything. K, here goes!

Ares was excited. He had just gotten out of a meeting with the Gods that  
had sent him to a parallel universe a few weeks earlier, and they had  
explained to him how they had done it. They had used an old chant that had  
been created before time itself, and had sent him into the future, creating  
another realm that was in the future.  
  
And now Ares had the chant written so he could use it whenever he wished.  
Going to the future was not something that excited him. But the chant could  
be modified to send him to the past.  
  
“If it were not for that little bard, Xena would have been mine long ago.”  
He said, pacing in his chambers on Olympus.  
  
His plan was to go back into the past and stop Xena from ever meeting  
Gabrielle. He moved to the mirror that let him look down on his chosen.  
She was sleeping on the ground next to the fire. She was an amazing  
creature, capable of such beauty and destruction. He put his hand to the  
mirror and stroked the image of her cheek.  
  
“You will be mine, my warrior princess. And no woman, no God from this  
time or any other, will be able to stop us. The world will be ours.” He  
smiled. “A penny for your thoughts.” He said, transmitting a dream to her.  
“Soon, your dream will come true, my sweet.” He whispered, then turned away  
to begin preparing for the chant.  
  
  
  
  
Xena dreamed. She dreamed she was sitting near the ocean in the middle of  
the night, inches away from where the waves crashed into the rocks and made  
the most beautiful sound. Ares approached her. Without a single word he  
pulled her into his arms and kissed her mouth eagerly. She did not pull  
away. Still embracing, the two fell onto the soft sand and made love all  
night long with such intensity it shook the Earth.  
  
When she opened her eyes, she was…disappointed to find that it had only  
been a dream. She rolled onto her stomach and tried to sleep again, but  
thoughts or Ares kept interrupting. By the Gods, it had felt so real. And  
also, so right.  
  
  
  
Ares finished the chant and specified the place in time he wished to go to.  
He appeared there in the next second, slaying the baby Gabrielle as she  
slept in her crib. He smiled and repeated the chant, this time specifying he  
wished to return to the time he had come from. He anticipated the  
difference the bard’s death would have on his relationship with Xena.  
  
  
  
When he appeared, he was in the forest on a small Black Horse. He didn’t  
notice at first, but there were two hands around his waist from a person  
sitting on the horse behind him. He turned and looked, and saw Xena sitting  
there. He smiled.  
  
“You okay, baby? You seemed to tune out for a second.” She said.  
  
“Yeah, I’m fine.”  
  
“We have to make it to Amphipolis by Dawn. The army will be right outside  
of it, ready to attack. I can’t wait to see those people burnt to death.  
My mother especially. I’ve been waiting years for this.” She said in a  
bitter tone. Ares smiled. By the Gods! It had worked! He kicked the  
horse lightly on the sides to make it go faster. He couldn’t wait to see  
his chosen in action.  
  
  
  
The minute they met up with the army, an hour to dawn. Xena jumped off the  
horse and shouted out orders to the army. They ran to obey her command and  
within minutes the army was assembled and ready to attack. She was at the  
head of the line and Ares was right beside her.  
  
“Ready baby?” She asked. He nodded. She turned her attention forward and  
screamed out “ATTACK!”  
  
The army rushed forward to the sleeping town. Houses were set on fire, all  
opposition was destroyed, and the unsuspecting villagers were hacked to  
pieces. All except Xena's mother. She was taken captive by the warrior  
princess and led outside the village privately by Xena. Ares followed,  
invisible to them. When they reached a clearing, Xena threw her mother down  
on the ground roughly, then punched her across the face.  
  
“Ban me from my home, why don’t you.” She said, assaulting her mother,  
sarcasm dripping from her voice. “leave me to fend for myself, an innocent  
girl barely touched by the battle. You are the reason I am like I am today!  
I hate you, I will always hate you.” She kicked her across the face,  
sending her mother to the ground. She bent over her.  
  
“See you in Hell, mother.” She said, and sliced the poor woman across the  
middle. Once she was dead, Xena began hacking away at the corpse. Ares  
materialized and grabbed her arm before she could take another swing. Xena  
looked at him with eyes that reminded him of Callisto. Eyes full of enough  
hate to make Zeus cower in fear. She lost the hate in her eyes and smiled a  
smile that made Ares take an involuntary step backward. She returned her  
attention to her mother’s corpse, and grabbed the bloody thing that barely  
passed for a body by the feet. She started dragging it back towards the  
village. Ares tried to stop her, but Xena just shoved him away and  
continued with her insanity.  
  
When she reached the village, she tied the body to a sturdy wooden post by  
the neck, then set it aflame. She watched it burn with a greedy smile, and  
Ares watched with horror.  
  
“I’ve created a monster.” He said quietly.  
  
He raced out of the town and to a clearing where he could say the chant  
again, uninterrupted. He sent himself back to when he killed Gabrielle just  
in time to stop himself from killing her.  
  
“I am from the future.” He said to his past self. “If you do this, you  
will destroy Xena. You can’t do this.” The past Ares looked at him,  
nodded, and disappeared. Ares exhaled, repeated  
the chant, and returned to the ime he had come from in the first place. It  
was just as it was before he started the chants. He was in his chambers on  
Olympus. He disappeared and reappeared in front of his Warrior princess.  
  
“Xena,” he said, bending down to her sleeping body, “Don’t ever change.  
You are perfect as you are.” He kissed her on the forehead, causing her to  
smile in her sleep. He moved over to the bard and looked down on her.  
  
“Thank you…Gabrielle, for loving Xena enough to make her who she is.”  
  
He disappeared back to his chambers on Olympus. Xena smiled even more.  
  
She hadn’t been asleep at all.  
  


The End


End file.
